


Tear Down the Kingdom

by EmeraldHeiress



Series: Ad Aglaophotis [11]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Alpha Slade Wilson, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, BAMF Jason Todd, Confrontations, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Feelings, Female Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Omega Jason Todd, SladeRobinWeek2019, Slave auction, bamf slade wilson, missing person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 01:01:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21227204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldHeiress/pseuds/EmeraldHeiress
Summary: “What do you mean he’s disappeared?” A feral snarl tore itself from her throat.“Hood…” The voice on the line soothed, “Calm down. Slade’s the best. He knows what he’s doing.”“He was investigating a meta trafficking ring.” Her voice all growl. “Don’t tell me to calm down!” She moved across the room and snagged an earpiece, quickly connecting it, before pulling a bag out of the closet. “Tell me everything.”





	Tear Down the Kingdom

_“What do you mean he’s disappeared?”_ A feral snarl tore itself from her throat.

“Hood…” The voice on the line soothed, “Calm down. Slade’s the best. He knows what he’s doing.”

“He was investigating a _meta trafficking ring_.” Her voice all growl. “Don’t tell me to calm down!” She moved across the room and snagged an earpiece, quickly connecting it, before pulling a bag out of the closet. “Tell me everything.”

“I don’t know everything.” The man sighed. “But I’ll tell you what I do know.”

The omega began to pack as she listened carefully. A lot of it tracked with what she remembered already, having worked some aspects of the case with her mate a few weeks earlier. Her fingers trailed over her neck where the collar had rested. 

She made her way down to the workroom. All her best toys were coming with her. Pursing her lips, she eyed one of Slade’s spare suits. Yeah, probably wouldn’t hurt to take a spare set of his gear, too. Just in case. She packed another bag and a couple of cases of equipment. 

The voice in her ear assured her that he would be available for intel and acquisition of anything additional. She still wasn’t leaving without the best.

“Is my plane prepping?” 

“It’ll be ready to leave by the time you get there, Red.”

Nodding even though he couldn’t see her, Jay put the bags in the car. The discrete one that could be left at the airport for a significant amount of time.

“I’ll be there in thirty.” 

“Copy.” The line went dead.

Her hands trembled. _No_. She couldn’t do this right now. With effort, she swallowed the lump in her throat and stalked back upstairs. After a last sweep through the house, checking locks and doors, double checking traps and alarms, she left. 

She made it to the airstrip in twenty.

_________________

Paris was the first stop. It was where Deathstroke had last checked in. Where he had last been seen. He had been close; right on the tail of the gang he was after. He had to make a hasty run to the city to not lose the lead. He must have missed something _somewhere_. A detail that gave him away. A clue that set them on him.

She investigated for a week and turned up only mist and shadows. It was like he had never even set foot in the city. 

Istanbul was next, trail even colder after her stop in Paris. Desperate, she turned up every stone. Captured every thug. Broke every bone. Still, nothing. No idea why he had been in Paris. No information on what had spurred him to make the run.

On the twelfth day she was running three days on gas, sorry, _petrol_ station coffee and peri peri as she tore through London. Finally, making it to her temporary safe house, she almost didn’t notice the shadow in the corner of the room. She whipped a knife at the figure before she recognized the stance.

It was caught before it hit and her sister stepped into the light, face a mask of worry.

“Cass?” Jay’s voice cracked. “What are you doing here?”

“Jay. What’s going on?” Cassandra motioned to the safe house and to Jay herself, looking worse than she’d had in over a year.

“He’s _gone_, Cass.” She struggled to get words around the lump in her throat. In an instant the woman was in front of her, hands on her shoulders. “Someone _took_ him.” The backs of her eyes burned and her vision wavered to match her voice.

“We’ll get him back, Jay.” The alpha vowed, steel in her voice.

A sob escaped the omega’s lips and she buried her face in her sister’s shoulder as the dam broke. All the terror and rage and exhaustion she had buried over the last twelve days came pouring out. Cassandra lowered them to the floor as Jay’s leg’s lost their strength and let her sister cry herself out.

Soon, she was sleeping, passed out from the outpouring of emotion. 

Cassandra carried her to the bed. Already the woman had lost weight. She clucked her tongue in disapproval and moved to the other room. She had her own calls to make.

_________________

Jay slept a full fourteen hours. Helped along with a subtle dose of a sedative while Cassandra got some things ready. When she woke, she felt more in control. Better able to handle her emotions and the work she had to do. The first thing she did was shower; the sensation of the water helped ground her, helped bring her back to herself and remind her of who she was. 

She was the goddamned _Red Hood_. Jay Petra Todd-Wilson. Wayne when she had to interact with high society. Second Robin, trained by Batman and the All Caste. League of Shadows assassin. 

_Mate to Deathstroke the Terminator_ for fuck’s sake.

They made a deadly mistake when they took Slade. 

She would burn the world and salt the earth to get him back.

Feeling more like herself than she had in days, Jay left the bedroom. Cassandra sat at the table, a Waynetech tablet in her hand and breakfast spread in front of her. She glanced up from whatever she was watching only to deliver a single word.

“Eat.”

Knowing she was on thin ice with the alpha, mainly for not calling her for support in the first place, Jay loaded her plate and followed the direction. After finishing her plate - twice - she pushed it away and turned to her sister, impatiently waiting.

After a moment, Cassandra handed her the tablet. “The information Tim compiled.”

Jay closed her eyes as a flush of shame washed over her. “Thank you.”

“Jay.” She looked up, meeting concerned green eyes. “We understand. We’re not angry. You panicked.”

The omega nodded, feeling better, and began to look through the data. Twenty minutes later, she put the tablet back down, a grim look on her face. “I’m going to have to go undercover.”

Cassandra nodded in agreement. “Undercover.”

Jay sighed and reached for her phone. “I’ll call Talia.”

“_What? Why?_” The alpha looked alarmed.

“Because…” Face grim, Jay explained, “to get into these circles, I’m going to need one of my worst personas. And Talia’s been keeping her for me.”

_________________________

Slade leaned casually against the wall, appearing bored as his eyes swept the forty or so people that showed up for the auction in addition to the crew of the auction house. He was rather surprised that they were using a classic style auction for a black market meta slave trade but who was he to judge when it provided an easy means of identification and… _well_. 

He hid a smirk. None of them were making it out of here tonight.

He recognized several faces from his investigations, including the head of security for the event: Peter Weston. The man he’d allowed to capture him so he could get an inside look at the operation.

He swallowed, his throat shifting under the high tech control collar they’d fitted him with. It was _cute_; they thought it would actually keep him contained. He was here because he wanted to be, not because of anything they were using. 

A few new players entered the hall. His attention skirted over them briefly, assigning them a low threat level, before moving on. The atmosphere in the room shifted and he realized he’d made a mistake. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he felt a heavy gaze rake over him.

He scanned the new group that entered again; the quickest source of the change in the air. 

His threat assessment rose.

At least two were League of Shadows operatives. _What the fuck were they doing here? _The third was a very well disguised Arsenal. _Motherfucker_. _How had he missed that?_ To be fair, it was a very _good_ disguise. He wasn’t sure he could do better himself. He wondered how badly this was going to screw with his plans?

The fourth… His heart stopped. 

He’d fucked up. He’d fucked up so bad… She was never going to forgive him.

How could he have forgotten?

He’d never told Jay that he was going in…

And _now she was here… _

He was so fucking fucked.

He met her eyes, teal turned brown, filtered by contact lenses, and he could see the relief in them. _Relief_. Shit. She’d thought he was in danger. Carefully, he examined her as well as he could from across the room. 

Dark circles and pale skin carefully hidden by makeup; she hadn’t been sleeping well. Her shoulders were rigid with tension, from stress and who knows what else. Considering the Shadows agents… She’d gone to Talia. 

A wave of guilt swept through him. She had never wanted to go to the League for anything. Now she was going to owe them. This was so bad.

Maybe he didn’t have to tell her that this was part of the plan?

She circled the room, appearing to_ browse the wares_ with her attendants. He remained where he was. Not like he could go far, anyway, with the chain and all. But he watched her progress. She blended effortlessly among the mixed company of super rich black market dealers and high end mercenaries.

Her laugh echoed through the room, sharp and cold, and he smirked to himself. That was a sound that meant blood and pain. Whoever she was talking to had just signed their death certificate. She flipped her golden hair and crossed her arms. He hoped that was a wig. He knew how much she loved her coal-dark curls.

Ear to the gossip around him, he began to hear what was being said about her. Or rather, what was being said about _Jessamine Verestä._ Christ, she couldn’t have picked a less pants shitting identity to fake, could she? The Veri clan from scandinavia had been more shadow and vapor than anything concrete but rumor had always been particularly bloody when they came up.

He hoped they didn’t have to deal with _them_ after this mess. 

They had a reputation for being vengeful and unforgiving and seemed to deal in everything from stolen art and artifacts to drugs to black market textiles. _Jessamine_ was apparently looking for a new bodyguard. One with particular talents. 

The blonde beauty finally stopped in front of him. He arched a brow and gave a show of slowly looking her up and down before pushing off the wall. “What’s a pretty little omega like you doing in a place like this.”

He crossed his arms and tapped his fingers gently across his bicep.

“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in.” She drawled, voice low with feigned amusement. She rapped her bidding ballot idly against her thigh. “Deathstroke the Terminator. What a prize.”

“You think so?” Rumble in his voice so low it was almost a purr. 

Her eyes flashed, “I guess we’ll see, won’t we.”

“I guess we will.” Fingers itched to reach out to her. He could see the subtle tremble in her hands. 

Someone stepped onto the platform on the west end of the room, gathering the attention of the crowd. Time for the auction.

Time for action.

Jay obviously had the same idea.

An explosion rocked the compound. The power went out and the room went dark. People began to reach for weapons. Slade felt a feral grin stretch across his lips. In a few seconds, he was out of the collar and chains. 

Strong, slim hands passed him a pair of handguns and a knife. He squeezed one of them in thanks and reassurance. When the lights came back on, the assassins were gone and Harper had disappeared into the rafters.

They _moved_.

The guards to the side of him fell, quickly followed by all others in clear line of sight. Half by him, half by Jay. Oh, he’d _missed_ watching her work. Those headshots had been _glorious_. Across the room, the rest of the guards fell - to red fletched arrows and assassin blades. 

Then, swords and gunfire turned on the buyers as they began to realize what was happening and turned to defend themselves from the right direction. From _every_ direction.

Slade seamlessly stepped in front of his mate, shielding her armorless self with his body. She fired from over his shoulders and around his waist. They worked around each other well, falling into patterns they’d formed while sparring and playing war games with Jay’s siblings.

His blood sang as he waded into battle with his mate at his back.

The thirty armed opponents in the room were reduced to twenty in their surprise volley. The rest fell quickly after. Those unarmed had quickly dropped to the floor or out of the way, trying to avoid becoming a casualty of friendly fire.

It was quick, it was lethal, it was precise. It was everything he could ever hope out of a hijacked operation. _Better_, even. 

On a signal from Jay, the assassins began to bind those that surrendered. Arsenal moved towards the terrified metas, still chained to the walls around the room. 

“_Red_ -” Slade started, voice low, before he was roughly pulled into a kiss.

Desperate fingers clutched at him; assuring her that he was there - that he was real. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed back, running soothing hands up her back. After a moment, he pulled back, cupping her face with his hands.

“It’s okay. I’m here, dao găm.” 

She nodded and pulled away, all business again. “Anything you can tell me before we sweep the place?”

He grimaced, knowing that what he had to say next was going to ruin any good mood she’d gained. “They’ve got a separate level for kids, Red.” 

Rage flashed in her eyes but she did a good job at remaining impassive. “How many.”

“Sixteen. Various abilities. Three people on the inside ready to help on my signal.” People he’d planted. 

Her gaze was heavy on his face, reading the tension in his body, the expression he wore, the look in his eyes. Comprehension settled over her features, followed quickly by anger and a lightning flash of betrayal. Guilt roiled in his gut. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 

When she opened them again, she was the consummate professional. Cold and calculating.

“We have five minutes until the next guard rotation comes and discovers us.” She motioned to a hallway, “I had sets of our gear planted earlier. We should change and get ready.” The omega stiffly walked away, in the direction she’d indicated. 

_Fuck_.

He followed her a few paces behind, sighing.

It was a long night by they made short work of all resistance, binding those that surrendered and eliminating those that didn’t. Jay was distant. Unemotional. _Furious_.

He had no idea how he was going to handle that but it was going to have to wait until they were alone and not in the middle of a mission.

_Red Hood_ was in fine form, however. It was like she had bloomed; out of Gotham, out from under the eyes of the Bat. Every movement decisive, every hit merciless, every shot devastating. If she wasn’t already his mate, he would be making plans to court her. 

Perhaps he should do so again regardless, with how deep in the dog house he was in right now.

Together they led the team with brutal efficiency. He hoped they would have the chance to do so again.

The facility was hidden deep in the forests of Albania. Jay had informed him Cassandra was sending someone to fly them out. In a couple of hours the authorities would arrive to take care of the metas and the survivors of their cull.

Slade stood next to his mate as they waited for extraction. Close enough to feel the heat from her body. He reached for her and was relieved when she didn’t move away. He gently pulled her closer. She came, offering little resistance, but didn’t relax against him. His ears picked up the sound of engines in the distance.

_________________

Jay dropped her duffel bag as soon as she crossed the threshold of their Rome safehouse, leaving her mate to shut the door and lock everything up as she headed for the master bathroom. She couldn’t deal with the situation right now. She couldn’t deal with _him_ right now. 

Turning the shower on, she tried to ignore the persistent ache in her chest; all the emotions she’d been suppressing the past five weeks. 

As she waited for the water to heat, her attention turned to her head. It took careful work to remove the netting and all the pins holding her black hair from where it was bound under the blonde wig, but eventually it was free to flow once more. The contacts were easier. God, she hated those - hated _anything_ in her eyes.

She slipped under the stream, letting the hot water soothe her aches and pains; knowing Slade was doing the same in the guest bath. Knowing that he was home.

_He was home._

Her breath hitched and she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. Five weeks she’s been searching for him. Three of those spent infiltrating some of the worst of the underworld. To find that he was there on purpose. 

_She was gonna kill him herself._

But he was home and he was okay.

She closed her eyes as the water washed away her tears.

The water turned cold and she admitted defeat, knowing she had to get out. She dried off slowly, taking her time with her routine. Oiling her curls, brushing her teeth, moisturizing her skin… anything to delay leaving the bathroom. Finally, dressed in her most comfortable sleepwear, she opened the door.

Slade sat on the end of the bed, a tea tray next to him. The aromatic smell of mint filled the air. Her favorite herbal blend. 

“Dao găm -” 

She cut him off, “No.” Jay stated firmly, “You don’t get to call me that right now. I’m furious with you.” 

“That’s fair.” He acknowledged. “I fucked up. I’m sorry.”

She blinked at him, off kilter. He just… No one had ever told her she was right to be angry with them before. How do you respond to that?

“You’re sorry?” She asked.

“I’m sorry.” The alpha repeated, sharp lime coloring his scent. “I can’t begin to know what it was like-”

“I didn’t think I would ever find you.” Her voice cracked. “Your broker called, said you hadn’t checked in and all I could think about was that I would _never see you again._”

“Jay-”

“I was so scared that I wouldn’t find you. I searched for _days_. I flew right to Paris.” Her eyes weren’t seeing him anymore, weren’t seeing the room. She was back in the back alleys of Paris, of Istanbul, of London. “Couldn’t find a single trace of you, it was like you’d vanished.”

“There was nothing in Istanbul or London.” Tears began to fall from her lashes, unchecked. “Cass caught me in London. Made me sleep. Made me eat.” She didn’t see the emotions flow over her mate’s face as she recounted what happened after he went missing.

“Tim managed to scrape together some lost data and track some shipments. Enough to give me a starting point. A place of entry. I knew what I was working with. All I could think was that if I hadn’t panicked; _if I had talked to them first, maybe I wouldn’t have been too late_. Maybe I could have found something sooner. Gotten you back quicker.”

“I went to Talia.” Regret loaded her voice. She hated going to Talia for anything. There was always a price. “I collected an old identity and sent Cassandra home. I wasn’t going to drag her into this. Too bloody.” She had known she wasn’t getting out of it without killing. She wasn’t going to let her sister see her like that.

“I would have done _anything_ to get you back.” She was looking at him again. Present again.

“Jay-”

“_Why?_” Her voice broke. “_Why didn’t you tell me the plan?_”

“It was a mistake.” His eye begged her to understand. “An accident. I didn’t mean to disappear without warning. I made a call and I… I didn’t think.”

“Do I mean so little that you didn’t think about me when you made that call?” The tone of her voice, the way she said that so calmly, so unemotionally… like she knew the answer. _Fuck_. He’d made her think she didn’t matter to him.

He was on his feet before he was aware of it, hands cupping her face and gently wiping away her tears with his thumbs. “_Jay Wilson,_” voice low and rough with emotion, “_I would tear down the moon with my bare hands for you._” 

Jay felt her knees give out as a wave of heat washed over her. Slade caught her easily, picking up the growing sour-noted scent of a stress heat. _Shit_. He needed to get her into bed. He lifted her easily, frowning as he realized she’d lost weight in the month and a half he’d been gone.

“Put me down!” The omega weakly demanded.

“Jay, you’re going into a stress heat.” Not even bothering to acknowledge her order. He tucked her into the bed and pulled the tea tray closer, handing her a cup.

“Slade - ”

“Drink.” He infused a bit of alpha order in his tone, knowing she was going to fight him otherwise.

A stress heat. He sighed, guilt still eating at him. A throwback to prehistoric times. Nature’s _fix-it_ hormone cocktail brought on once an omega feels safe after a period of high stress, danger, or turmoil within the pack. 

Jay would be feverish for the next 24-48 hours, needing care and attention from the alpha of the pack. From him. Instincts making her submissive and ramping up his need to care for her. It’s supposed to be a way of restoring bonds and mending relationships. To be fair, it still works but…

Well, he never liked seeing Jay sick.

“I’m still angry with you.”

He smirked just a bit. “You have every right to be.” 

He was going to make this up to her. Somehow.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from “_Gladiator”_ by Zayde Wolf
> 
> Prompts: <strike>Apprentice</strike> | Auction
> 
> Takes place slightly more than a month after _Baby, I’ll Rule_. I wanted a powerful piece of fic where Jay rescues Slade, pissed and snarling. I got that + angst. Didn’t expect the angst. Oops. Shit happens?
> 
> [My Tumblr](https://primeemeraldheiress.tumblr.com/)
> 
> [Garpie64](https://garpie64.tumblr.com)


End file.
